Revenue advanced 12.2 percent to $222.6 million, on the back of a comp-store sales increase of 7.3 percent.

Analysts were looking for earnings per share of 51 cents, on revenue of $221.3 million, as polled by Yahoo Finance.

“Customers responded favorably to our athletic and spring footwear assortment, which helped generate sales at the high end of our guidance for the first quarter,” Mark Lemond, president and CEO of Shoe Carnival, said in a statement. “Additionally, our gross profit margin and expenses were better than we originally anticipated.”

The company expects second-quarter net sales to be in the range of $179 million to $182 million with a comp-sales increase in the range of 1 percent to 3 percent. EPS is expected to come in between 8 cents and 11 cents.

Lemond added, “We will continue our accelerated store growth in the second quarter with the opening of 11 stores, including our first two stores in Puerto Rico. This accelerated growth is anticipated to increase our earnings long-term. However in the near term, the higher expenses resulting from this acceleration in store growth will lead to a decrease in earnings for the second quarter.”

Shoe Carnival ended the quarter with $92.3 million in cash and cash equivalents, up from $69.1 million the same time last year.